when finally free
to walk
where he chose
my father
still stayed
on the path
whether through
floodplains
waist-deep
with water
roadways
knee-deep
with mud
or jungles
dense
with underbrush
he kept to
the worn trails
the safe routes
established
by those first
lucky and
brave khmers
who had gone
before him
***
where would i be if
the well-traveled roads
could not be trusted
to be free of explosives?